Despite the economic troubles affecting
the state, Ohioans are smoking more than ever, according to a study
that found the highest percentage point increase of any state. An
official with the Ohio Department of Health attributes the increase
to the stress people are under, though the Ohio General Assembly also
cut funding to the state's smoking cessation help line, so there's
that. Ohio ranked as the 36th healthiest state in 2011, down from 33
rd in 2010, while Indiana came in at 38th and Kentucky 43rd.

Occupy D.C. protesters built
some type of structure in a park Saturday night, and police on Sunday
notified them that they didn't have a permit and took it down,
arresting dozens in the process. It was a pretty nice structure,
though.

State lawmakers are slowing down on the
puppy-mill bill. They apparently need more time to
find common ground between those who wish to protect dogs from abuse
and those who think new regulations on cage sizes are just too
[expletive] limiting. From The Columbus Dispatch: "Supporters want to protect dogs from abuse and extinguish
Ohio’s reputation as having some of the most-lax puppy-mill laws in
the nation, while opponents want to stop what they see as
overreaching regulations.
'I’m not fed up, but I’m close,' Hite, a Findlay
Republican and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told the
panel before the discussion. 'I believe we need to do something.
But I want to warn everyone here ... if we can’t come to some
common ground to a degree, I’m not willing to advance this bill
anymore in hearings.'More than an hour later, the panel discussion ended with a
passionate plea from Kellie DeFrischia, president of the Columbus Dog
Connection.
'For goodness’ sake, we license dump-truck drivers in this
state. Shouldn’t we be protecting our dogs?' she told the
committee."

More details are coming out about Chris Monzel and Todd Portune working a behind-the-scenes deal to sell Drake Hospital for way less than it was worth in order to save rich people money on their property taxes for one year. Critics have called it a “fire sale” and questioned the legality of ...

A new study has found high levels of
arsenic in fruit juices that millions of kids are drinking because
there's pictures of actual food on the label. Too bad government
regulation is just a big waste of money that hurts the economy.
A full 10 percent of the juices tested by the magazine had
arsenic levels higher than what is allowed in water by the Food and
Drug Administration.
“What we’re talking about here is not acute affects,”
Urvashi Rangan, director of safety and sustainability at Consumer
Reports, told TODAY. “We’re talking about chronic effects. We’re
talking about cancer risk. And so, the fact that 10 percent of our
samples exceeded the drinking water standard underscores the need for
a standard to be set in juices.”Consumer Reports tested 88 samples of apple and grape juices sold around
the country. Included among those tested were popular juices like
Minute Maid, Welch’s and Tropicana.

If you know anything about integral
calculus, then you know that the area under a curve represents volume,
while the slope is the acceleration at any given point (on a different
type of curve, ha!). But if you think you know enough about integral
calculus to prove these statements wrong then, sorry, but you don’t have
any credibility because you’re probably drunk, as two new studies have found a correlation between intelligence and a
thirst for alcohol.

Headline: "Stadium tax rebate favors wealthy." Analysis: "No shit." Owners of the county's most-expensive
homes reportedly receive more savings from the property tax rollback
than they pay in the sales tax increase that was supposed to pay for
the sports stadiums. An Enquirer analysis of last year's property tax
payout found that the half-cent sales tax increase amounts to a
maximum of $192 annually, while some high-value homeowners received
tax rebates of $1,175 or more.
• Million-dollar homes account for less than 1 percent of
households, yet they received nearly 5 percent of the total rebates —
or one out of every $20 paid out.
• One out of four homeowners - those with a home worth
$200,000 or more - got $8.8 million in rebates - more than half the
total rollback.
• The median Hamilton County homeowner with a property worth
$106,700 is eligible to get a $50.15 rebate under the rollback.
• The 132 Hamilton County homeowners with houses worth $2.5
million or more get at least $1,175 apiece.
• Property owners with homes worth $150,000 or less account
for nearly six out of 10 households, but collectively they received
less than 23 percent of the benefits.
County commissioners have four days to
tell the auditor to go ahead and tax homeowners at the previous rate,
but Chris Monzel and Todd Portune are up for reelection this year and
won't dare change take it away from the powerful rich people. [Correction: Monzel is not up for reelection.]
Said former commissioner David
Pepper:"At its core, the property tax rollback creates a
reverse-Robin Hood scheme, where middle-class homeowners and renters
are not only the ones paying for the stadium, but also footing the
bill for a tax break for high-value property owners. Those high-end
property owners are not paying for the stadium at all."

Some Ohio anti-abortion groups
apparently didn't learn their lesson from Gov. John Kasich's SB 5
failure, as at least one has broken away from Ohio Right to Life for
refusing to endorse HB 125, the “heartbeat bill.” Ohio Right to
Life believes HB 125 won't withstand a challenge under Roe v. Wade,
but Warren County Right to Life wants to spend a lot of time and
resources pursuing it anyway. Ohio Right to Life says a successful
legal challenge could strengthen the women's choice side, but other
groups are expected to join Warren County Right to Life anyway.

The Hamilton County Commissioners'
stadium funding failures have caused County Auditor Dusty
Rhodes to describe a “dream world” where politicians think their
inaction doesn't affect anybody. Today's news that the stadium fund
will be bankrupt by March without additional funding has not deterred
Republican Chris Monzel and Democrat Todd Portune from giving
property owners the tax credit that convinced them to vote for the
1996 sales tax increase."It would be the height of irresponsibly to commit funds they
knew were not there," Rhodes said. "I've long criticized
various governments for living in dream world.
"This takes it to a whole new level," Rhodes said.

Slow down and enjoy the season

This year’s Holiday Issue took a step
back in an attempt to enjoy the experiences that so often pass us by
during this time of year. Should we have set up an elaborate photo shoot
for our Holiday Issue covers? That sounded stressful and obligatory, so
we just built a little house out of cookies and candy. It was only one
story, but it was delicious. And we enjoyed each other’s company and had
lots of candy left over.